COPLINK National Network

Waitress beaten in Fountain Valley, CA
A  waitress was beaten up when trying to collect the bill from six suspects who dined and dashed from Denny's. Patrol found the suspect vehicle in Santa Ana and subsequently arrested two subjects. Follow-up investigation revealed one of the two arrested was uninvolved. He was released per 849b1 PC. The other suspect would not ID his accomplices, but through COPLINK we were able to ID two others. We conducted a probation search at one of their homes. We located the primary suspect and arrested her. She admitted to the beating and tried to put the blame on the victim for chasing after them to collect the bill. Imagine that!

Anaheim, CA "245” assault with deadly weapon against Officer
On July 25, 2008 at 2319 hours, Officer Flanagan ran a license plate in the parking lot of a Motel 6 Hotel. The plate returned as an "armed and dangerous" suspect vehicle used in a 245 against a CHP officer. Officers established a perimeter and used an unmarked vehicle to take point on the suspect vehicle. Officer Flanagan contacted Garden Grove PD, who originated the DOJ stop on the vehicle and obtained more information. The suspect in the 245 was the registered owner of the vehicle. He had led the CHP on a high speed pursuit and may have intentionally collided with a CHP vehicle to escape. We were able to obtain his photo and found that he had several outstanding warrants for his arrest. Officer Flanagan contacted the motel manager and checked the guest roster for the suspect and/or the vehicle with negative results. Using COPLINK from inside the patrol car, we identified several associates of the suspect. We compared the associates' names in COPLINK with the hotel guest roster and located a female's name on both lists. We were able to run her on Vision and located active probation conditions with search and seizure. Entry was made into the motel room and the suspect was located and arrested on the outstanding warrants (including a no bail warrant), possession of narcotics and counterfeit U.S. Currency. Bottom Line: COPLINK saved several man hours of surveillance because, without knowing the room number, we would have waited until he returned to the vehicle. COPLINK also prevented a likely pursuit if we tried to stop him in the vehicle.

Tampa Grand Theft on Christmas Eve
The victim was at a bar and had her purse atop a table. The suspect, a w/m, 5-9 to 5-10, 140-150 lbs, with short sandy hair, walked into the bar and took the victim's purse, which contained property valued at approximately $700.00. The suspect ran from the bar and entered an older model two door red or maroon vehicle (tags identified) and fled the scene. A DHSMV check showed no record found for the vehicle. The investigating officer contacted the victim who advised that she received a phone call from a woman named "Denise" who found her (victim's) stolen purse in her recovered stolen vehicle. Denise stated that her brother used her vehicle on December 24 and that it had been stolen. Denise's phone number was a cell phone, and gave her full name. She stated that her brother was William M., with a DOB of 09/17/1968 or 1969, 5-10, and 160 lbs, with red hair. The investigating officer entered the first three digits of the suspect vehicle's license tag into COPLINK, and received approximately 100 search hits. He located a red 2-door Oldsmobile, accessed the information related to the vehicle and noticed that a Danny Lee M., w/m 09/15/70 was associated with it along with an Information Report. The suspect's mug shot matched the suspect's description, and his name was similar to the name that Denise had given for her brother. A check of the Information report showed that the complainant was a Timothy W. whose wife was Denise W. The investigating officer called Denise at her home, and she admitted to lying about her name to the police. She also indicated that her brother was Danny Lee M. and that he had admitted to her that he had stolen a woman's purse on Christmas Eve. The investigating officer completed a photo line-up and both the victim and witness positively identified Danny Lee M. as the person who stole the purse. Danny Lee M. was arrested and found guilty of grand theft.

Successful Rescue in Tucson
An officer was dispatched to a kidnapping call at an apartment complex. The call was made by a worker at a women's shelter for domestic violence. The caller stated that one of her clients was being held hostage by her ex-boyfriend at an apartment complex near the location. She said that the suspect had threatened to harm the victim’s children if she left him. The worker was able to provide both the victim’s name and the suspect’s name. Other officers responded to the apartment complex location who then determined that the apartment number was unknown. Officers searched the apartment complex for approximately 20 minutes without success. Officers at the station decided to use COPLINK in an attempt to uncover any additional information regarding the suspect. With COPLINK they were able to uncover additional information on the suspect including his prior arrest for domestic violence on the same victim he was currently holding. Further searches with COPLINK discovered several addresses for the suspect. One location was the apartment complex in question, which also included the apartment number. Officers responded to the apartment and located the suspect inside. The ex-girlfriend and her three children were rescued without harm.

Officer Safety in Low Speed Pursuit, Huntington Beach, CA
Officers were involved in a low speed pursuit that started at Riverside, California/SR-1 and terminated in Huntington Beach, CA. Huntington Beach PD assisted by deploying spike strips that caused the pursuit to be resolved safe and quick. COPLINK also played an additional significant role. At the beginning of the pursuit a dispatcher used COPLINK to identify the registered owner of the vehicle and learned that he was considered armed and dangerous. He had been arrested by Irvine PD in April for felon with a handgun. Further inquiries by the dispatcher revealed the RO to have had a previous murder conviction.

Regional Auto Theft in Alaska
An Alaska Bureau of Investigation officer recently investigated a series of stolen vehicles, after finding two vehicles on a property with plates belonging to other vehicles. During a search of the property he was able to confirm two stolen vehicles, a truck and a 4-wheeler through APSIN. Most of these vehicles had their VINs altered, some completely unreadable. He was able to determine several vehicle VINs through alternate vehicle numbers, such as the engine numbers. Additional searching through APSIN however only revealed two of the vehicles had been entered in APSIN as stolen. He then used COPLINK to perform a search for VIN numbers, partial VIN numbers, vehicle descriptions, makes, and models. He was able to identify owners to five of the 4-wheelers, one snow machine, one trailer, and one vehicle with COPLINK searches. The vehicles that have been identified were stolen in Anchorage, Soldotna, Kenai and Wasilla. In many cases the vehicles had not been entered into APSIN, or the wrong or no VIN numbers had been provided to the agency. COPLINK allowed him to identify the owners of these vehicles, where the information would not have been available through DPS computers alone. This investigation resulted in two individuals being arrested and the referral of charges for two minors.